No row of shops would be complete without the Wine Merchant. Most of what he sold was produced within the community. It wasn't until comparatively recently that a licencing system came into force which prevented individuals from producing their own rough beers and wines, made from every conceivable form of plant and vegetable.
   He would have had many sources of supply from the villagers, who would make their speciality for him to sell in the shop. One of his best lines would be a velvety black ale called Porter, so named because it had port wine added to it. Gin, commonly known as "mothers ruin," caused a considerable amount of alchoholism, controlled finally by the imposition of savage taxation on hard liquors. Beer was not so heavily taxed and became what is today, the favourite drink of Englishmen.